5/17 http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/17/candidates.wealth/index.html
7 out of 18 Presidential candidate are millionaires. "All of the
candidates are seeking to lead a country where the median net worth
is about $93,000, and the median yearly income is about $46,000."
Hold on. How the hell do you make $46K but save only $93K net worth?
Don't most of us own homes that are at least 3-4X our income?
\_ Two words: CREDIT CARD. More words: HOME EQUITY LOAN
\_ 1) because the saving's rate hovers around zero, 2) no.
\_ "most of us" don't own homes.
\_ 68% is "most".
\_ 68% is "most". (Correction, 2000 census, 66.2%)
\_ You mean there are 200M homes in the USA?
\_ There sure is a big helping of the stupid piled on motd
today.
\_ here in America, we like big helpings.

5/17 Man with no arms and 1 leg eludes police in high-speed chase.
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/103431.html
\_ I wished most people who had two arms and two legs could
drive that well.
\_ "Come back here! I'll bite your legs off!"
\_ "He spent time in prison for kicking a Florida Highway Patrol
trooper after an accident in 1996." This is one guy who won't
let his disability affect his performance!

5/17 Southern ocean saturated with CO2
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/05/17/climate.ocean.reut/index.html
"We thought we would be able to detect these only the second half of
this century, say 2050 or so," she said. But data from 1981 through
2004 show the sink is already full of carbon dioxide. "So I find this
really quite alarming."
\_ Which ironically shows how wrong this particular scientific model
is. It's amazing how time after time these models prove wrong,nd
yet no one is connecting the dots.
\_ By "amazing", I assume you mean "how science works"... Their
models are turning out to be far too conservative. The irony
is in the claims of alarmism..
is in the claims of alarmism.. --scotsman
\_ I at least am quite familiar with how science works. My last
job (just departed) was in scientific simulation. In
particular of simulation of radiation interaction with human
tissue for oncology. And if my models were more than 3% off,
it was completely unacceptable. Yet in the latest IPCC
report, the estimate for ocean rise is dramatically less than
it was in the previous one. Furthermore, if your results are
wrong, it means you have a broken model, and you fundamentally
can't make reasonable predictions with a broken model. -emarkp
\_ Are you going to dig up Jewish corpses full time? How
much are your CORBA payments?
\_ So... If your models were 3% off, it was unacceptable and..
what? You ran more experiments? You changed your model?
Or you said "Well shit, I guess that proves that radiation
has no effect on cancerous tissue"? --scotsman
\_ The doctors would threaten to throw our software out the
window. -emarkp
\_ So, another parallel that isn't... --scotsman
\_ Hi anonymous troll! -emarkp
\_ I posit that you are unconvinceable, since no
model will ever be accurate enough for you.
\_ You're wrong. My belief in climate started
with skepticism, moved to acceptance (even of
anthropgenic warming), then back to skepticism
of man's cause, and now I simply don't believe
there is warming. All of those changes in my
interpretation have come from my own
investigation of the data. -emarkp
\_ Have you checked out the Stern report?
The expected cost of even the conservative
scenarios where AGW is real far far
exceeds the cost of doing something about
it. Why is normal risk analysis thrown
out the window only in this case?
\_ Odd, I never see risk analysis on this,
it's typically, "don't you want to help
the earth"? -emarkp
\_ You aren't looking very hard at all.
Google "stern report global warming"
\_ Oh yeah, that looks fun. A 645
page report. No thanks. -emarkp
\_ Odd. You say, "I never see
risk analysis." Then you
are presented with a very
prominent peice of risk
analysis, and declare that
you won't read it.
\_ 645 pages?!? Sorry no. I
looked into it and it looks
pretty sketchy. In
particular, the claim
summarized is that it would
cost 1% GDP to prevent the
problems of GW, but 20% if we
don't stop it. Skimming the
first chapter it seems just a
rehash of previous claims.
Considering Kyoto wasn't
going to solve anything and
cost a ton, I simply don't
buy this. And what does it
claim about China and India?
-emarkp
(Oh and then I find this on
the wiki:
Professor Richard Tol, an environmental economist and
lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), said that "If a student of mine were to
hand in this report as a Masters thesis, perhaps if I
were in a good mood I would give him a 'D' for
diligence; but more likely I would give him an 'F' for
fail. There is a whole range of very basic economics
mistakes that somebody who claims to be a Professor of
Economics simply should not make. (...) Stern
consistently picks the most pessimistic for every
choice that one can make. He overestimates through
cherry-picking, he double counts particularly the risks
and he underestimates what development and adaptation
will do to impacts.")
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6295021.stm
\_ Please don't buy the Green hype;
there are plenty of selfish reasons
to want head off AGW. Unless, of
course, you're buying real estate on
high ground in the hopes of owning a
future beach house.
\_ I'm more interested in clean air.
Quit the crap about CO2 and let's
get rid of brown air. -emarkp
\_ a.k.a. air with the mark of cain
\_ a.k.a. air with the Mark of Cain
\_ What sources led you to your disbelief?
\_ Says the man that believes in Joseph Smith's magic plates.
\_ I'm not proposing them as a scientific theory. -emarkp
\_ You know, they keep changing their predictions for
earthquakes in the Bay Area, too, but somehow I'm willing
to believe that there will be one in the future. -tom
\_ But if they predicted one tomorrow, which didn't happen,
and the day after, which didn't happen, and then in one
year (and there was one in 6 months), would you believe
them if they predicted one on a certain date? -emarkp
\_ Your suggested parallel isn't. --scotsman
\_ It's a bit closer than tom's, but hey, like I
care. -emarkp
\_ it's been well established that you don't care
about reality. -tom
\_ hah! Nice troll tom. Go back to your cage.
-emarkp
\_ Tom may be a troll, but it appears that
anyone who disagrees with you is a troll.
\_ No, people who post anonymously but
call me out by name are trolls.
-emarkp
\_ I didn't post anonymously or call
you out. -tom
\_ JUST A NATURAL CYCLE!!!!! GIVE ME MY HUMMER BACK!!!!!!!!1!!!!
\_ You may find http://realclimate.org helpful.

5/18 Freepers, um, "respond" to immigration plan
http://wonkette.com/politics/dept%27-of-messy-breakups/beloved-right+wing-message-board-demands-bush-impeachment-261439.php
\_ Is this the move that will drop his approval ratings to sub-Nixon
numbers?
\_ You're not thinking far enough ahead. All but one of the
2008 R candidates has come out against this bill. This will
fire up the base and enable them to rant and rave about how
THEY wouldn't have sold the country down the river for them
damn Mexicans if THEY had been President. This is a parting
gift from Dubya for em.
\_ Ezra Klein has a good take
http://csua.org/u/iq0 (prospect.org)
\_ It's still above congress' approval. However, "the base" that
will leave Bush has already done so. I can't imagine it'd go
lower.
\_ There are no Freepers on the motd. We used to have one and then we
had several fakes and now we fortunately have none.

5/18 To the troll who was asking me why I was for the war in Iraq, why don't
you ask Senator Clinon? Just in case you wanted to know, here's her
speech:
http://clinton.senate.gov/speeches/iraq_101002.html
\_ Why? Are you saying you would vote for her?
\_ Commander-In-Chief Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Doesn't it have a melodious sound?
Oh, btw, she is against it now. Why haven't you changed your tune?
\_ It'll never happen. She wouldn't even be in the race much less
considered a serious contender if she wasn't a MSM beloved
Clinton. So many long for the return of the Bill Clinton days
they'd support anything with his name even though she's nothing
like him. Out here in the real world she has negative ratings
so high that there's no way she can win the Presidency and they
only get worse for her as she pisses off the left. The right
already knows her while the left continues to figure it out more
each day.
\_ The Right has had her on its list of hated people since WJC
got elected. They know what they want to think of her, nothing
more. She's a lot more than a feminazi caricature, and you
wrong yourself to miss that.
\_ Why do you feel the need to put words in my mouth? I
never described her as little "more than a feminazi
caricature". If you can't reply to what was said, please
don't. You completely ignore my comments on the number of
people on the left who have learned to dislike her while
inventing something from whole cloth I didn't say.
\_ If the comment does not apply to you, don't take it as
such. However, many on the right have her pegged as a
feminazi caricature, and she's much more than that.
\_ I think if you spend your time arguing someone is
'more than just a feminazi' you have already lost
the image war.
\_ You know, it's surreal conversations like this
that remind me why I don't bother with Usenet
anymore. *shrug* It's the Right that's written
her off as a FemiNazi. Among people who think
(read: non-dittoheads), labels like that just
stick.
\_ Are you the same guy who predicted that the Iraq War would
be a good idea?
\_ aaron?
\_ No. I think when they didn't declare martial law on day 1
it was over. Everything that happened after that as Iraq's
situation spiraled down was stupid. And calling it a War
is just wrong at least as far as our troops are concerned.
They aren't fighting anyone. They go on patrols, they get
shot at a lot, sometimes roadside bombs go off. There are
near zero efforts to find and go after any of the various
forces trying to destabilize the country (for political
reasons). I know you were just being snarky but I figured
I'd give you a real answer anyway.
\_ Not entirely being snarky. Just pointing out the fact
that the Right Wing Oracle seems to be broken these
days, so the fact that Republicans are all 100%
convinced that Hillary is "unelectable" doesn't
neccessarily mean that this is so.
\_ Read it and weep:
link:www.csua.org/u/iqc
\_ don't be stupid.
\_ TradeSports has been pretty on target with most
of its predictions. Do you have a better
prediction market?
\_ So that was a tradesports link? It doesn't work for
me now. I just looked on there and they have Hillary
at 40:100 to win. I thought Obama had a much better
chance. They also have Gore on there. I guess Gore
might join late. Gore vs. Clinton? I have no idea
how he'd do. I think he could win the presidency.
The problem with him is he has associated himself with
a controversial issue. Someone like Giuliani is bland
as white bread. You can't really complain about him
because all he says is he likes lower taxes and all
the usual bullshit. He's probably corrupt but the
American people don't care about that. He looks like
he's in the mafia (omg racist).

5/18 Help. A new Pinkberry opened up across from where I live and
it has increased traffic jam. How will this adversely affect
my property value? It's 1.5 blocks away from my condo. I'm thinking
of petitioning, with the help of HOA, to get them pay for a new
parking structure, or better yet, kick them out.
\_ What the fuck is a Pinkberry?
\_ I'm boycotting them just for the obnoxiousness of their website..
OP, you've chosen to live in LA. No sympathy.
\_ google it and read "the taste that launched 1000 parking tickets."
\_ Dude, Angelenos are just plain weird.
\_ Generally, desirable business near your house increase your
property value.
\_ Check Cashed Now!, Aladin Bail Bonds, Joe's Pawn Shop,
Buba's Super Stereo World, Mo's Sports Bar, Crazy Horse
Gentlemen's Club, Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen's Club, y Larry
Flint's Husler Casino are extremely desirable too. Will
they raise surrounding property values?
\_ You're throwing in a lot of different things there. I
don't think anyone would consider check cashing or pawn
shops as "desirable." A sports bar could easily raise
property values, as could a casino.
\_ Move as far out into the suburbs as you can. That is the only
\_ wilderness
\_ A shack in Montana far off the grid.
way you can be sure to be safe.